Arie Johnston of Dover was helping his grandmother with her town's annual roadside cleanup when he spotted the backpack Saturday. He told Foster's Daily Democrat his first thought was that a person had been killed for the money.
Arie's grandmother called the Alton town clerk, who identified the bag's owner based on the passports and other documents found with the money. The owner was a woman who had lived across the street until a fire damaged her apartment last year.
Police say the woman has since moved to Maine and has asked that her belongings be given to her sister who lives in Alton. Arie's grandmother says a reward may be coming.
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